Many products are provided to consumers in granular form which includes any form that has physical characteristics similar to granular materials such as powders. Among the list of granular consumer products are many laundry detergents and dishwashing detergents. Granular detergents are generally used in relatively large volumes. Consequently, large volumes of these products are consumed each year. Due to the vast quantity of consumer products sold in granular form there is a great demand for packages to house these products.
An example of a box-type outer package suitable for packaging granular materials is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,420 issued to Gunn et al . on Jan. 22, 1991 the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The Gunn et al. reference discloses a box-type package having a handle that is designed for housing granular or similar products. The package includes a liner that is adapted to prevent the flow of granular content out of the package. The package described in Gunn et al . is currently being used as a disposable package in that after the granular material that is housed in the package is used up, the package is subsequently thrown away.
Recently, however, in order to save natural resources there has been a desire to reduce the amount of packaging for such products. Because packages such as those described above in the Gunn et al . reference are relatively sturdy and are able to withstand the rigors of transportation from the manufacturer to the consumer and are able to hold up through extended periods of time, there has been the desire to design a refill container adapted to be inserted into such packages that can be readily collapsed for easy disposal and reduction of solid waste volume.
It has been known in the art to package granular materials in a plastic bag and thereafter pour the granular product into a box-type package. However, this type of refill container often causes the consumer to spill granular product when pouring. It has also been known to package the granular products in a plastic bag which is designed to be inserted into the box-type outer package. However, with these bags it is usually necessary to open the bag before inserting it into the outer package. Furthermore, while the use of a plastic bag readily reduces the volume of waste and therefore reduces solid waste volume, materials such as plastic are not as readily recyclable as other materials such as paperboard.
There has therefore been a desire to design a refill container for the box-type granular packages described above in which the refill container can be opened after insertion into the box-type outer package. There has also been a desire to make such a refill container out of fibrous paperboard which is more readily recyclable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a refill container for granular products that is adapted to be inserted into a box-type outer package wherein the refill container can be opened after insertion into the box-type outer package.
It is another object of the present invention to make such a package out of fibrous paperboard material so that the refill package is more readily recyclable.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a package that can be easily and readily collapsed after its use so as facilitate easy disposal and reduce solid waste volume.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a package that is hermetically sealed.